Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) was slammed online late this week over a tweet that suggested that the five black police officers who are accused of being involved in the murder of Tyre Nichols were motivated by “anti-blackness.”
Nichols died on January 10, three days after Memphis police pulled him over in a traffic stop for “reckless driving” near Raines Road and Ross Road in Memphis, Tennessee.
Police said that during the stop a “confrontation occurred,” at which point Nichols ran away from police on foot as they attempted to apprehend him. Video of the incident was released last night by law enforcement.
Jones responded to Nichols’ death by tweeting, “If you think the Memphis police officers had to be white in order to exhibit anti-Blackness, you need to take that AP African American Studies course [Florida Republican Governor] Ron DeSantis just banned.”
Kind of proving the point of why the course was rejected…
Most people don’t think that it’s reasonable to indoctrinate HS kids to believe 5 Black police officers abusing their power and needlessly beating a man is evidence of anti-Blackness. pic.twitter.com/VxFXBSsEcc
— AG (@AGHamilton29) January 28, 2023
Jones’ tweet garnered backlash and mockery online.
“Kind of proving the point of why the course was rejected,” tweeted the popular conservative account AG. “Most people don’t think that it’s reasonable to indoctrinate HS kids to believe 5 Black police officers abusing their power and needlessly beating a man is evidence of anti-Blackness.”
Radio host Jason Rantz tweeted, “This is a great argument against the CRT course masquerading as AP African American history.”
Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh tweeted, “If you blame white supremacy for black on black crime, you’ve probably taken way too many of those kinds of courses.”
Jones’ shot at DeSantis comes after curriculum for AP African American Studies from the College Board generated massive backlash in Florida because it contained leftist activism.
The Florida Department of Education recently informed the College Board that the course’s content is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value,” adding that the state would reconsider the course should the organization make the material “lawful” and “historically accurate.”
“They’re advocating things like abolishing prisons. Now that’s a radical political position,” DeSantis noted in response to what was in the curriculum. “You’re free to take that in your own life, I don’t think very many people think that would actually work, but how is that being taught as fact?”
DeSantis added that he does not view black history as inherently distinct from the overall history of the United States.
“That’s what our standards for black history are: it’s just cut-and-dry history. You learn all the basics, you learn about the great figures,” he remarked. “I view it as American history. I don’t view it as separate history.”